*** Official #10 Illinois vs #4 IOWA STATE Game(Day) Thread ***

[qwerty]

Andy Katz seems elated.

He's a B1G homer, big time.

 

[Malone]

Good, overachieving year. Talent needs to get better, apparent after that game. And it will.

Also need to get away from such a heavy turnover-reliant defense and grow the offense. A step slow all night strategy-wise.

TJ learns.

 

[HFCS]

The only thing standing in UCONN’s way right now is Zach Edey and there’s a good chance they never have to even face him.

I wonder if Houston could beat them if Shead has a "will them to win" game but they've really looked pretty similar to ISU...meaning very good but not national champion good.

 

[cyclonestunners]

Iowa State was 17/21 at the free throw line. That's outstanding. But they only made 6 three pointers.

Gave up 17 offensive rebounds. That needs to be addressed.

Yeah! How about Rob Jones making 2 down the stretch!! After a steal.layup too! Not his best game. But he sure showed us why we love him down the stretch. Was doing everything he could to win

 

[cyzygy11]

I congratulate the squad for their success....We do have to realize for this staff and players, this is the ceiling. And, to be honest, I am cool with that. I would rather see ISU get to this point than not get to this place at all...our team is essentially Frankenstein's monster on stage, singing "Putting On The Ritz". It's funny and real...

 

[Stumbles]

I love the grit and determination of this team. Never say die. Gave us plenty of great moments this season. Can’t wait for next year. Cyclone Power

Yeah, as much as it hurts to lose. They kept playing and made Illinois work for it. Gotta love that.

We need someone to step up and be that tough as old shoe leather like guy, like Shead for Houston or Kane for us from years back.

 

[cyfanbr]

Also just want to shout out that imo Tamin has been playing through an injury for quite a while now.

I really hope that doesn’t become the story of his career. Belive last year he also played through some injuries. Love the kid and he has been amazing, but really hope he is able to play a couple seasons injury free.

 

[ClonesTwenty1]

He's a B1G homer, big time.

Isn’t he or was employed by the Big Ten?

 

[alarson]

Man, I know we overperformed expectations.

But it would be nice just one year to have a deep run to at least the elite 8. We've seen so many other big 12 teams do it. So many random directional schools do it. But we're now 0-4 in sweet 16s in recent memory. Multiple times performing below seed expectations (including, now, this year). And this one largely because we pretty much gave that game away.

There's just a cumulative frustration to it.

 

[tim_redd]

Also just want to shout out that imo Tamin has been playing through an injury for quite a while now.

You could even see when he re-aggravated it tonight.

 

[Spam]

Seen too many losses to b10 teams in the tournament.

 

[Gunnerclone]

And their weed sucks and very expensive. ******* liberal pieces of crap

Concur.

 

[cyatheart]

Hard to say how it works. Curt comes in at like the 17 mark and almost never comes out. It depends on how different guys are comfortable. He needs to be playing huge minutes, which he has been. I think the last 12 games or so Curt might be leading in minutes. If not he’s right there.

You are going to play the three guards for 30 minutes each next year. Need one more bug guys, and one more real deadly shooter.

 

[quasistellar]

We gave up too many not-great ORBs, but overall I thought our bigs did OK on the boards (at least on TV it looked like it). I'm gonna miss Ward a lot, he's just such a dude. He's like Hogue with a jet pack! Hopefully Omaha can step into that role.

Just once I'd like to get a solid 5 that doesn't require playing at most 50% of the minutes because they'll foul out otherwise. Ward is great physically, but just doesn't use his head sometimes.

 

[Gunnerclone]

I wonder if Houston could beat them if Shead has a "will them to win" game but they've really looked pretty similar to ISU...meaning very good but not national champion good.

Way too small.

 

[HoustonClone]

The real winners are the Illinois boosters who are covering the legal bills for Shannon. Excellent work big city Chicago lawyers! Scum bucket piece of **** state.

I get the innocent until proven guilty reality, but to take away the university's ability to suspend a player is absolute horse ****. Pretty soon the NIL guys and lawyers will be running onto the court to override coach play calls and refs decisions. Wish I were kidding. I'd hate to be a college coach in this environment.

 

[qwerty]

Iowa State was 17/21 at the free throw line. That's outstanding. But they only made 6 three pointers.

Gave up 17 offensive rebounds. That needs to be addressed.

12 Offensive rebounds and more importantly, only forced 12 turnovers. Needed at least 3 more turnovers probably means 4 more points for us and 2-4 less points for them.

 

[AuH2O]

Continuing to double is what's worked all year and gave us a two seed. The amount of posters in here complaining that tj doesn't change the thing that got us here is absurd.

Stopping double teaming everything to playing like they did during their run is not some drastic change you think it is. This isn’t like going from the wishbone to 5 wides. They picked their spots to double and it was really effective. Went back to doubling everything and once they got it to Hawkins or Domask and the double it was 1-2 pass away from a wide open shot.

But Illinois is a weird team that creates problems for defenses. Having a 6-10 guy that is a great passer is going to make it tough on any defense. They had a great plan and executed it. Hats off to them.

 

[jctisu]

I wonder if Houston could beat them if Shead has a "will them to win" game but they've really looked pretty similar to ISU...meaning very good but not national champion good.

It’s really simple. If UConn plays at their best nobody is beating them. Now, it’s basketball so they can absolutely finally have an off day, but that’s what it’s going to take.

 

[cyclonestunners]

Tj has consistently built a sweet 16 quality roster which is incredible for what he took over. That is the max of what we have had though, so excited to see if/when he can take the next step. I feel good moving forward.

I subscribe to the bo ryna philosophy... you get to enough s16s, you will get ti some e8. You get to some e8, you will get some ff. I'll absolutely take what tjnhas done in 3 years.